Skeptics have called the Eastern Parkway a "road to nowhere," but the McClellan Joint Powers Authority wants to make sure those doubters are proven wrong.

The JPA has planned for several years to construct a road that would connect the Eastern Parkway — a 7-mile link across McClellan between Interstate 20 and U.S. 431 north of Anniston — to Alabama 21 via Iron Mountain Road. Recent estimates for the road have been much lower than originally expected.

JPA Vice-Chairman and Anniston Mayor Chip Howell said work on the road could begin as early as next year.

"We're closer than I ever thought we would be at this time," Howell said. "Things are falling into place."

Development of the so-called industrial access road has been delayed, as the first step was to clear the area of mortars, bullets and other unexploded ordnance left behind when the Army closed Fort McClellan in 1999.

Howell said cleanup in the Iron Mountain Road area was on schedule to be completed by the end of the year, which will make way for the first phase of the industrial access road's construction.

Howell also said the financing — a subject that has plagued the Eastern Parkway — is in place for phase one of the industrial access road. The JPA received a state grant several years ago for $1.6 million for the road. In addition to that, the board had put aside $600,000 for construction, an amount which has grown to $745,000.

But an estimate from Calhoun County engineer Charles Markert put costs for phase one — which is simply improving the existing Iron Mountain Road and widening the shoulder — at just over $800,000, Howell said. He said a wooden bridge would have to be replaced, but that the project would still be under budget.

"This was great news because it means we'll have money in hand to start phase two," he said.

The 2.6-mile first phase would begin where the Eastern Parkway ends, in the Lake Yahou area of McClellan. That phase would bring the road into the former fort's industrial area and up to AmPro Molding and where Calhoun County is building its new highway department facility.

The Alabama Department of Transportation is planning to award the contract for paving the section of Eastern Parkway from Golden Springs into McClellan in September. Howell said phase one of the industrial access road would not be far behind.

"We're going to be working simultaneously with that, but our work won't take as long as theirs," Howell said. "But we want to get phase one finished because it will get us access into McClellan from the south."

The 2.5-mile second phase will be much more costly and time-consuming, Howell said, as it requires that a new road be built to extend into the northern part of McClellan and connect to Alabama 21.

He said the JPA would seek another state grant for that work in the fall. He said estimates for that phase put the job at between $5 million and $6 million.

JPA board members say that road is critical to commerce at the former fort as it would provide access from both the north and south.

"This road will give easy access to the general public and to the industrial area," Howell said. "It will save a lot of people a lot of minutes."

Understanding the Eastern Parkway and its impact on McClellan - 2/22/08

Anniston Star 7/10/2008